Chapter 32.5- Doom Days

“Great serpent” I said in parseltongue. The serpent turned its head in my direction once more.

“A speaker?”

“Yes, Great serpent. I seek to make my way to the village” I said.

The snake looked behind itself towards the village before nodding, and moving its head away from the village, ending its blockade.

“Great Serpent, if you would, please prevent any others from gaining access” I said.

“Your will be done, King Speaker” It said, after taking one long sniff in my direction. I nodded and swam towards the hostages. The merpeople watched me approach with their hands on their spears and Lolabugs. I reached the statue to find four people tied up. Fluer’s sister, Cedric’s date to the Yule Ball, Cho Chang, and Krum’s own date. My hostage was someone I hadn’t expected. Instead of Hermione, it was a red headed boy tied to the statue by his feet. Ronald fucking Weasley.

I scoffed at Dumbledore’s pathetic attempt at manipulation before I cut him loose and grabbed a hold his body and sent us jetting towards the other end of the lake where the man-made island was located. I only had to reroute with point-me spells twice until we were right beneath it. A silent ‘ascendio’ sent us flying from the bottom of the lake into the sky. Once I was in the air, I waved my wand like a conductor and used one of my favorite elemental spells. It couldn’t be used offensively, it was something baked into the spell’s matrix, but it was fun as all hell.

I created a slide from the air around us and both Ron and I slid down the slide. I cushioned my landing with another packet of air and let Weasley eat sand as we landed. I waved my wand at him, casting a featherweight spell before transfiguring him into a rat. It felt fitting as I reached down to pick him up. I was still in my swimming trunks and another wave of my wand turned them into a set of robes. Nothing as comfortable as what I usually wore, but more than enough to shield me from the Sun’s harsh rays and the scouring winds of the island.

I slipped Rat-Weasley into my pocket and began to make my way through. There were two options. Go flying to get the antidote for the sleeping potion he was under, or just bypass it entirely and move on to the next stage. Considering I had no desire to wake up the nincompoop, the solution was simple. I walked past the brooms until the camera behind me, the floating snitch-like device spun to my front. From it came a single voice.

“Acquiring the antidote is a compulsory part of the challenge, Mr. Potter” Bagman’s voice said.